Okay, then we did it. really got mad because you killed one of our guys. >> But I wonder How's the world? >> I didn't mean it.
And the good thing is I don't have to know about anything requirements always. >> All right, welcome back everyone. >> Um, welcome back to our third meeting.
We do have a few folks who are joining online, so I'll try to pause to give them time and space to contribute. Um so for an agenda uh today we're going to give some space for thoughts since last meeting kind of what conversations have you had or thoughts and then um we're going to follow up on the discussion we
ended last meeting on about doing inplic listening uh based on the activity last time we picked four districts to study in more depth and so we have the follow-up information um I would say we have almost all of it um ready for tonight and then the bulk of tonight we're going
to spend reviewing the survey results so we had 127 survey results as as of right now. Um, and then we'll get into homework and next steps. So, I'll open it up for any general thoughts since last meeting. Has anybody had
conversations or questions have arisen? Um, somebody shared with me as they were walking in that um, other staff in the district were not clear of what the survey was for. Like maybe more context
would have been helpful to help them answer the questions better. Um, we all have the benefit of having been at this table having these conversations, right? So, it all makes perfect sense to us. But sounds like there was maybe some confusion as to the intent before they took it. So that's, you know, that's
some feedback good to know. >> Can you follow up real quickly? Was the survey um implemented, you know, throughout the district because there's people we talked to that never got it. We were telling them they should get it.
>> We had a meeting. >> Um can we talk about how the survey was distributed thus far? >> Um went out the staff newsletter. >> Okay. And we had parents take it too. So somehow parents
>> in the um tiger. >> Okay. So yeah, maybe not specifically sent to staff in like an email, but in a newsletter. Yeah. >> And you'll see in the results a little bit later, but um I uh staff were the predominant responders.
Um and then parents were after that. And then I think community members was third and we had one student take the survey. Awesome. So, one out of 127. Anything else that's on people's minds before we dive into it?
Um, I guess maybe another um thing I should go over is probably pretty obvious to everyone, but we do have a physical copy of the presentation in front of you. Um, that was a request. And then, um, the survey results. I'll go over them, um, in the meeting here. Um, and then I do have like the raw data. I can like log into the survey
agent if people have follow-up questions as we're going through that. Um like are there any trends for who said yes or no to that question or who said that response, right? Um so I can like filter responses if there's um kind of further analysis you're looking for.
Um otherwise I think we want to keep talking about our in-person listening options. So last time we ended our conversation on making sure we reach people um in the format they want to be reached and that in person would be valuable. Um so we spent a lot of time between meetings talking about the right
way to do that. And I think for a couple of um a few points came up. So one was wanting to make sure there's a consistent message out to the community. And so we was we were thinking of having you all go out in pairs and you know meet with different groups. there's just a really high level of possibility that
different messages would get sent on. I don't think that would help the end cause. Um, we were also worried about if there's groups missing from our list, if there's going to be people who feel like they weren't reached out to, right, just because they weren't the group we brainstormed. Um, and just a little bit
of sheer availability, right? We all know how hard it is to get everyone together. Um, and on the timeline we're on. Um, so we were brainstorming last week that um maybe we could have we could host a couple listening sessions like a daytime option and an evening option and then we would ask you all to
help be liaison to try to get people to participate um and then we could have them take the survey on the way out. Another thing or another point I should make is um then we could try to also have um on-site translation as well, right? As opposed I think that'd be too heavy a burden to try to get a
translator to go to many many meetings. So, >> um, with that being said, I think we're I think where we landed, um, was to try to have these listening sessions in January. Um, so we wanted to spend some time talking with you all about what you think about that. Um, you know, we would
want to spend think about what the content is. I think it would have to be partially educational in value, right? People if people show up to the meeting, they would want to know why am I coming to this? And do you do you think the goal of this would be just to have an in-person um option instead of an online survey or
would we actually try to seek different input so like more input or more in depth right so I'm just curious for those who felt strongly about doing in person I just want to you know check this plan with you all um just because we thought there was a lot of risks in having 16 separate meetings right um of
high level of possibility of um messaging challenges is we haven't picked dates. That's why it's not listed as TBD. So, >> I know to me I was one of the people who said I think we should have inerson
listening sessions, but I I think it in my mind depends on the purpose. If the purpose is to eventually pass a levy, then I think they're necessary. If the
purpose is to choose what building to close, you know, is the greater community involved in that? I don't know, you know. So, >> yeah, >> I know I said that before, but I'm like, I don't know. >> Yeah. And right now, obviously, the only purpose is just to gather input for you
all to make a recommendation. I do know from experience with, you know, school district elections that a campaign strategy often includes a very significant kind of outreach, right? I would say it would be pretty unusual to have um to have just the broader
community kind of pick in your in your case, right? Um just because it's a little more complicated than that. But >> so in that in that case, do you still think um listening the with the broader community is important in this moment? I guess it depends what the end goal is
in my in my own mind. So >> how many survey >> um and I'm sorry for some reason whenever you print survey results out of Survey Monkey, it doesn't give the numbers. It only gives you percentages. So I put it in the PowerPoint, but we
had 27 community members take the survey. So that was 21.2%. So, um, I mean, they were the lowest represented group, but >> So, can I chime in on that a little bit? So, one one thing I think that we came
to discussion on last time was there's going to be some people that have no interest in our current school settings or, you know, you might have your vote no people out there no matter what. And so, I think right now, this is for the group to kind of talk about is who who are we
trying to reach and why. And if we go back to our purpose of this, I think S maybe we could talk a little bit about right now we're not trying to establish today that we're going out for say reference but today we're looking at all solutions
put together some recommendations. I think maybe we want the community to understand our story a little more what the current need is and the reality and that might be more of the the purpose of the listening sessions. And so I don't know if the group wants to talk about that or or pros and cons of the formats.
Um I think I can speak for Dr. Hyle, myself and hold that we're pretty open to what these listening sessions look like. I think if we go out to these groups, there's going to be a lot of people in those groups that maybe really don't have a whole lot of interest in this, but if we host them, we're going
to get people that are definitely interested in this. And so I yeah to build on that kind of if we do it you know I'll call it now soonish you know we don't have a game plan yet right so it would be to get their ideas for what to take into account then there's another opportunity to do that when it's
like a plan is coming together right let's call we have a rough draft of a plan for them to finesse it and then there's more the like once a decision's already been made informing them about the decision right that's more like a referendum or whatever campaign so you can have to decide the purpose right
so do we feel like and it's really kind of asking you all, do you feel like um as data has got gotten presented to you, do you feel like broader community input on values and important features of a school system, do you not know enough, right? Or on the converse, do you feel
like maybe at the end of the meeting we could talk this survey start to paint a picture for you? There's some trends in it, but it's I think it's fair to say it's not representative of the broader community yet, right? It's obviously predisposed to parents and staff. I think we're a little early yet to talk
to the broader community because I'm not sure any of us in here know exactly where we're going yet. So >> we don't right to be clear, right? No decisions made. So >> So I'd have a hard time out talking to the community about something. I'm not sure what road are we on. >> Yeah. >> So I I think I would wait at least one
more meeting, maybe two meetings to see what that looks like >> when a picture is coming together. But I do think before we make a decision here, you should be out doing these meetings with community because once we make a decision here or some group makes a decision, the community feels like
they've been blocked out. And so all you're doing is giving them information that Sarah can put in the paper and they can read it. We don't have to give it to them. >> Yeah. And we're kind of waiting for that moment. So I So you're kind of saying Yeah. We have to find that spot where it makes sense because it's meaningful to
people that want to participate and yet we can get that story out and kind of get feedback from the direction that we're trying to take. >> So, so pre-direction though because I like the community input pre-direction because then it gives all of us input as
to what people are doing. So, we got like the survey it's pretty basic, right? So then do we take some main points from the first presentation and the second presentation and create a little story line and that's what we go out with and then have people take the
survey as they're make sense and then instead of 127 we'll have 400. It's really hard to make see the themes. >> Yeah, but it's hard to know if they're representative of everybody. Yeah, we
got a hand up front. Oh, I'm wondering if it would encompass all people. If we're trying to increase the survey results, could we reach out to those groups that we selected for and and like actually talk to them and say, "Hey, we have a survey we'd love you to
participate in. Could you share this with us group and they just share the link >> kind of like a directed message?" >> You know what I mean? like give all those listed places and maybe instead of just the Karen church, maybe we do it to multiple churches in town or things like
that. Just say, is there any way that you could share this with your congregation to see if we can just get more people to answer our survey or something? >> Think about that. >> I like the idea of hosting listing sessions, what whatever building at the
school and then having like maybe a Spanish um speaking night, a Korean speaking night, English speaking night to get some of those families in. Um, and then to talk to what you were saying, I like that option B where it's like you kind of have a little bit of some options for the group because I think if it's just like what do you want to do? I mean that might be a little too
big for the broader public but if we can have like some strategies and even the survey as well like hey survey here please take this to get more data because like you said 127 out of 18,000 people plus is that >> and we could do more than one thing right we could do a you know trying
harder to get more survey results right it was not in field for long and host a listening listening session maybe once a plan is closer together or at least maybe we have options to find >> especially Because I feel like the 127 when you subtract all of us out of it
really makes that number smaller. >> Yeah. >> Text the rainbow from families like you did for the >> or different ways of that if they didn't raise read the newsletter. >> And maybe you put a little video
together where you guys explain >> well two or three minute. We're working on this. We have a task force going if you didn't know. give them your video instead of reading through all the information. >> Context the whole thing of what I've heard is is context.
>> Yeah. >> People don't they understand what this is, but they don't understand what's the end goal. Why are you sending this out? You I mean just listening here right now, this whole room, what's the end goal here? Well, I mean, I I mean, nobody
knows what the end goal is, but how do we expect somebody to answer a survey if they don't have the context and what we ultimately hope to achieve when this is all said and done? >> Two sentence.
>> I don't know what you think about that, Dr. H, of like trying to get more survey input, maybe directed Do you think people know what facilities mean? Like we know what they mean. We're like talking about them and like I'm in the school so I know what that means.
But like when you're talking to you know school speak to non school people maybe they don't you know because if you look at the survey results they maybe don't know what facilities entails >> to me. I think we use the word buildings in a few spots too but the word facility
shows up in there. I don't know. >> Yeah, we should always catch ourselves before edu speaking, right? It doesn't mean everything to somebody. Yeah. Yeah. >> I do think that it's important that they have kind of a
a basic understanding and we've had two hours, two hours. There was a lot of information given on that very first night that I thought, >> wow. >> And this isn't private information. This is >> how buildings are, right? like how big the buildings are, how many people can
fit into a building, how many people we currently have. I think getting that information out to the public so that they understand people are very quick to go, we don't need to do this. This is a waste. And so I think that's essential before they take a survey because they
need some kind of a knowledge base to work from. That's my thoughts. I think we're going to get better results. Okay, I think that's fair feedback. We can work on a game plan in that regard. Um I think we're thinking about doing them in
January. So um I'm meeting with um Stephan tomorrow I think right tomorrow. So we can talk about talk about that both end might be the right answer. Hearing from the group, we feel the information from mainly from session one
part of the discussion two getting a kind of summary together for these these listening sessions would be the structure. Is that what we want to see there to share the story with the community in those sessions? >> Yeah. And then we can follow it with a survey or push the survey in other meets
between now and >> we're gonna have to be like a 10 minute elevator speech for the listening dialogue. Most it's, you know, sad to say, most people won't go watch several hours worth of a meeting, a recorded meeting, right? It's it's available to people. We
can't stop them, but most won't. So, we might have to figure out how to make that more quickly. >> Yeah. I think we summarized the facts. >> Yif. But could you do like a short synopsis and then just say if you'd like to read more >> like here's the link to our website and
all the things there quick link the people that do want to listen to the two-hour meetings. >> Absolutely. >> Feels so inclined. >> Yep. >> Because then they know >> and then we could even watch website clicks and just see do we get a bunch of traffic to that page, right? Like are people noticing? I know like I know where the link is,
but if you ask my husband, he wouldn't know where the link is. Even though he knows that I'm doing these meetings and that I'm involved and talk to him about it, he wouldn't know where it is on the district website. Just just >> Yeah, >> it's never been sending a letter or anything to parents. >> Okay. >> And that would be what he would read.
>> That's all good advice. Everybody will have an opinion once a decision is made. But to get people to the listing session, I don't know how to encourage that because >> even do a survey cover. I don't know. >> Yeah. >> I think if you can say like we had survey, we had these three listing
sessions, we had the videos online, like what else could we have, you know what I mean? Like if you give them multiple options, then it makes a lot easier to say like, well, you had your opportunity. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. The adage is when you're sick of talking about something is when people are just starting to hear it. Right. So,
we probably need to hit it maybe a little bit. >> Okay. Well, um, any other thoughts since last meeting? Otherwise, I can go into the data we collected for you. >> Just real quick, I'm just trying to think who your primary audience is going
to be. That's what I would see to be parents who have be my number one priority clean feedback and you know I you know as a parent I think you know the easiest things what I
seem to remember most is to check your kids backpack or their folder every day they got home and when something was in it you read it and for a lot of people you don't you can't guarantee they're going to have access to the it or they'll even want to access it. So, all
right. Well, that part of that context in order to get information isn't going to work because they're not going to access it. So, now what are you going to do? Well, I've got, you know, 40 things to do and we're both working, you know, whatever, whatever. I can't get to a public form on it. So, can you
send me can you give me something in my hand that I can I can read after I put kids or if I'm senior citizens and I and I have trouble accessing anything electronically often times I need a single hand what's it what's in it and I
get my bulletin or my monthly newsletter from grace well that's a big deal and it has enough information that I can go through and at least get informed as to what's going on and then I can make a decision about how do I want to be involved beyond that?
>> Sure. >> I'm just thinking >> when you're thinking multimodal like >> Yeah, there has to be >> ways to get feedback. Well, two, maybe it's not feedback, it's to educate people enough. >> Sure.
>> So that they have context for this feedback gather. >> That makes sense. Um, I should have asked, um, does anybody online have any comments or reactions to this conversation?
We have a couple people joining online. >> Five, six. Okay. Sorry. I'll try to remember to uh to ask for your specific feedback. All right. So, if we click back into this. Okay. So, um, we picked four
districts to compare compare a little bit deeper to. Um, and then we did it it got asked last time like why did you do these same stats for our district, right? And while we had talked about it across a couple meetings, um, we pulled it together. So, um, here is your district. You got a map on the right
hand side. You've got your um, 2024 ADM enrollment on the bottom by grade level and then your square footage, age, and building configuration. So, this is what we saw for every district last time, right? And the information you asked us to follow up on um came down to kind of
these six questions. Um so, sizes of each individual building and enrollment by building, the demographics of enrollment, and a couple specific notes were asking about English language learners and special education. Um there was some discussion about
educational opportunities beyond K12. And when we went to go research that, it's like, wow, that's a really broad topic. Like, is that all of community ed? Is that early childhood? Is that um 18 to 21, 18 to 22 year old program? So, we need to talk more about what data you
actually want. Um there was a request for specialists um at the elementary school level. And so, we did some research on that. Um how their ALC programming is being provided. And then last but not least, um structure of the middle school and high school classes. Somebody asked like, "Do they have
houses or pods or things like that?" So, for your district, um couple I have a few slides for each district. Um obviously you have the ALC in the Brookside facility. Um and that um structure of middle school and high school classes. The middle school operates in teams for sixth and seventh grade, right? Um and then at the high
school, the programming is somewhat separated for 8th versus 9 through 12. The structure obviously was not purpose designed for that. So, the structure doesn't really reflect it. Um these are actually if you've never used this tool before um it's a very interesting tool. The department of ed
is what's called a um report card and at the top of the website you can type in any um even down to a building level or just a district and there's a whole bunch of ways you can compare. So I did these for each of the districts we're comparing to. So the f the lefth hand column is by race or ethnicity. So it's
got kind of in a in a um graphic format and down here it's the same data with the standard numerical format. Um so you can see obviously the predominant is white. Um X is Hispanic or Latino, right? Um and Asian. So that's the
racial breakdown. I think what people are actually more interested in was on this over here. So we have English language learner, special education and free and reduced lunch are the three stats of the department of ed regard and homeless. I shouldn't skip over that. Um
so you can see English learner your district. Sorry this is very blurry for me. So that 13 >> 13.1 >> 13.1 and then thank you there. Um special education 21.5 and free and reduced 58% homeless 1.1.
Um, I should also be clear, this is 2024 data for all districts just because that's the most recently available for MDE. Um, okay. So then size and enrollment by building. You guys kind of know it all for your own buildings, but I listed it here for comparison sake. Um, and then
elementary specialists. And I was just talking in the back just confirming. Um, elementary students get specials every day in kind of a rotation, right? So one one day, music one day, art the next day, PE the next day. It is a little bit different at some of the buildings as I
understand though that's a discrepancy that would >> depending on building size. >> Yeah. Well, yeah. So, like for my kids, for example, so um because their grade levels have two classes in them versus
other grade levels have three, their special rotation on that is just different. >> But then if you go to a different building, it's different. Yeah. >> So like some grade levels get more art and music time magazines or or gym time or whatever versus other grade levels
just simply because of the number of sections. That makes sense. So like my children have like music art jam music art jam but then the grade levels that have three sections have like a 25 minutes music 25 minutes gym but then they have opposite. So theirs
ends up being different I think times overall if that makes sense. >> Okay. >> Didn't understand that. So it's it's just kind of different. But I think it depends on then you know each building. So like it sibly only has two sections in every I don't know what theirs looks like and then where Lake
View has three in every level. So what does theirs look? You know what I mean? So there's I think there's some differences among all the elementary. >> Sure. >> So you're speaking to an efficiency challenge. If we put this specialist calendar up here, >> it is extremely challenging even to
decipher and understand what's happening because that exact dilemma. >> So students do potentially see different number of minutes with their music by art teachers building. >> Totally. And even my kids have like noted like this year they switched it's
their first year having like 50 minutes of music and that's really challenging whereas they used to have 25 minutes of gym 25 minutes of music so they got a little movement in there too but so my kids even have noticed that that that's a hard change. >> Sure.
>> So I'm I'm sure lots of kids you know what I mean feel that difference and then if they were to be a different grade level it's different. >> Yeah. So this year >> um I can go through them and then we can maybe do some of reflection. So this is
the data you saw about Fairbell last time, right? Their average age, their configuration. Um brief reminder, they they converted an elementary school to an early learning building. Roosevelt enrollment decline. Um so one more I thought of another one
just now please related to so we put STEM in that category >> and two of our elementary schools for sure have a dedicated space for them. Yep. because they have space for it where two of our elementary schools don't and they might use the media center of our classroom and so it's
another efficiency issue there right so um I think it's definitely something to think about when we talk about these specialists elementary specialist program >> inconsistency of experience yeah >> actually that's a um I spent a decent
amount of time on the phone today with one of the Redwing elementary principles because he called me back and he was very friendly so um they are experiencing some of those same some of those same phenomena. Um okay so far um so we'll go through the um some of the other stats on slides
but um they do have their ALC offsite in its own building. It's like a standalone small building. They have 118 students in it where they did last year. Um they at their middle school have separation by grade level and they I they don't seem to operate in like houses or teams in a very rigid way.
Um, so far demographics, I'll focus on the ones that you guys actually asked about. So, English learner 27.5, special education 20.1, and free and reduced. I think that's a 68. >> 68.5.
>> Yeah. So, a little less than you guys have said, more on English learner, more on free and reduced. >> Um, here is their buildings and their enrollments. Um, so they've got that Roosevelt used to be an elementary school. Um, and uh, the enrollment there
I think includes like people who went to preschool like two days a week in the mornings and people who went three days a week in the afternoons, right? So the the 473 I don't think represents how many students are physically in a building at one time, but just who in was enrolled at that address.
Um, and then they have art, fiad, music, and steam at the elementary. Um, the principles didn't call me back to tell me about frequency. kind of looked like it was on a rotation like what we just talked about, but I didn't get that clarified. Um, Marshall, this is the data you saw
before. Um, so then, um, when it comes to their, um, ALC, their ALC is in the same kind of building campus as their high school. >> Yeah, we had a question. >> I'm sorry. I was just curious about Farbo because they do house um the Minnesota Academy for the Deaf and Blind
and then they also have Shadic and um what's the other private school there? I can't >> Yeah, Beth Academy. Does that like those three different buildings are they considered outliers? Like do they impact your enrollment or like I don't know like if you are enrolled at the academy for the deaf and blind are you enrolled
in your most >> I don't believe so. >> Okay. >> No, I don't believe so. Um and definitely not for shadic and um even if they I think I know they have a near strand charter but that like those numbers are not counted here either. Yeah. Yep. So this would be just parable
schools. Yeah. >> Sorry I didn't see your hand. >> Um okay so Marshall um they didn't have any the middle school principle didn't call me back but they didn't have any obvious separation by house or team at the middle school. um their read off
might read that um their English learner was 17.5, special education 18.7, free and reduced was 53.5 and just under a percent for homeless. Um, and then here's their Oh,
>> oh, sorry, we're missing text questions. More layman's terms in personal touch. Okay, thank you for those advice, that advice. Sorry, we missed them. Okay. Um, so here are the Marshall U buildings. Um, so they've got Parkside and Southview elementaryaries. not all that
different in square footage. And then the middle school and the high school and the ALC and they have musical music, FIAD and media is what they listed for their elementary specialists. I didn't find any evidence of art could be in media. Some people call media is like that kind of media fuel.
Um and then last but not least, Redwing. This is the one where I talked to a principal for a while today. So they have a dedicated well their ALC is offsite at a building called Tower View. It's kind of a unique building. Um, and as you all have discussed, I think at last meeting, I believe there's discussion about moving
seventh grade in their district, right? So, that's going to change their middle school and their high school arrangement. Um, their demographics is um quite a bit lower on English learner. It's 3.9%. Um, pretty similar to you all in special
education, 21.1 and 35.5% of free and reduced. Um, and then here's their buildings and their enrollments. Um, and then I just have all my notes from when I talked to the principal today just to see who's friendly. So, um, they have, um, a 4day
specials rotation. They basically have 50 minutes of specials a day. Um, and in that 4 day, it's one day's art, one day STEM, one day's music, one day's PE. Um, he actually mentioned now that you said this, that they split up music and PE to be 225 minute because he said 50 minutes
was too long for music. >> Um, and they had it, he told me a little bit about their story. So they used to have K6 buildings and then in 2022 is when they reconfigured to the current structure of like early childhood through first grade and then second
through um fourth. Um and I I just asked him how does that work for you? What do you like about it? What's different? Because it sound like he'd been there like 15 years. And so I just thought it was interesting. He said um to have grade level buildings or grade level banded buildings. He said it was really nice from a consistency standpoint. He
said, "You wouldn't believe how how hard it is to get all the kindergarten teachers out talking from the same, you know, song sheet when we're across all these different buildings." Um, and he feels like that they've been able to work on some of their like achievement gaps and things better when they're all together and can talk about things. Um,
but then he said on the flip side, it's been harder to build relationships with families. So when you're only in a building for a couple of grades, he said it doesn't seem like you can get as much like commitment or involvement because they kind of see themselves as like passing through in a year or two. So he said like the PTO was not as robust as
it used to be and um things like that. So he was like there's pros and cons. It's obviously what we had to do from a budget perspective and um he also said that they didn't really have quite neighborhood schools to start. There was kind of an in town and an out of town situation. So a little bit different but
I just asked him and then he said um actually because they are declining still um they are letting go of STEM as an elementary special I don't think because they can afford the staffing. So he was saying that he he was like I just told you it was a four-day special rotation but it's going
to go to a three-day rotation. So basically what he told me is that I think he had to either bring them all down to like a twothirds position and he doesn't think that they'll get filled. People are looking for full-time employment, right? Um so it was he said had to make the decision of having
keeping the three full-time and letting go of one of them instead of pulling them all to a part-time position. So name was Mike. Nice guy. Um okay. And Winona. Um, so Winona also
went through a building um, change. Um, they closed and sold, as I mentioned before, two elementary schools as well as another building um, in the 2018 time frame. Um, they have a standalone building for their ALC. They have 92 students in it. Um, and their middle school was built in like a very pure
house or pod model, but they're not totally operating very pure into that right now. So, they have people like going between pods and things like that. Um okay so Winona for demographics 5.7% for English learner 24.4 for special
education um free and reduced 44.9 and looks like 0% for homeless. Um and then here's their buildings on the left. So they they have three elementary schools now. Used to have five. Um, and then when I when I asked
for their elementary specialist schedule, they just emailed me the schedule and it's a rotation. So, I just included it, right? Um, it's a rotation. You can see the grade levels and when they go see Mr. Reyes, right? Um, but it's it's a rotation. I think that's a
pretty common solution at the elementary level. Um, so I just wanted to get kind of, you know, we we we worked to try to get you the answers that you were looking for as you study these peer districts deeper. Um, still we didn't feel like we brought
you back good data on this question just because we weren't once we walked away from the meeting, we weren't exactly sure what you were looking for, right? Is it actually a data or a statistic or but any any reactions or questions are fair game right now, right? Obviously,
nobody's exactly quite like these, but I think they're they're good comparisons in their own ways. Yeah, we can stay on this just to make sure we don't miss a an online question or comment. Was this interesting to people? Did it answer any questions?
>> I know it's a lot of numbers to practice. I think the gentleman from Redwing also told me they used to be grade level banded buildings and then they went back to K6's and then they went back to grade level banded buildings. So that was really interesting to hear
couple different forward decisions I believe. think as mayor of this fine city. The one thing I found interesting about this was that other towns are in the same boat we're at. >> Oh yeah. >> And you you're from around town. You
know, Elbert Lee is going down and we're, you know, we're behind everybody else. We don't have what other places do. These look very similar. >> Yep. >> Oh, yeah. >> It's it's repeating all over the place. And and I think Redwing and Winona surprised me a little bit because I thought they would stand up maybe a
little bit better, but they're not they're not doing better than numbers. >> So, >> yep. Definitely experiencing many of the same challenges and juggling what to do with programming and facilities. >> A lot of people always think the grass
is greener on the other side. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. But they they've been going through some pretty public process since changing that, right? So, Any other comments or reflections? >> Yeah, please. Those the special ed
numbers, are those just students who are on any spectrum of the IEP? >> I believe that's how they're reported to the MD, right? If they have an IEP of any kind. Yes. >> Is there any way that we can identify like how many are in those level classes?
Quite a few of those. Um, I would imagine there is I would need to do a little more research on how that's reported to the department of ed. >> It's on the district count. You can go in from the board can look at a district child and they will identify their students disability by their federal
setting. >> Okay. So, yes, the answer is yes. I can figure that out. Did they say why they went from banded buildings to level back to band? >> No, the gentleman said he said that was a board decision. I don't know if they were, you know, pressure for
neighborhood schools again or what have you, but um he said coming out of co their um enrollment didn't recover quickly and so they had to make a choice about what to do. Um and so that's they went back to the grade level mandate. So I don't know. I think we'd have to go back to maybe he thought it was maybe in
2017 or 2018 that they had switched the K6es again. So would have to probably talk to someone involved in the decision making. >> Better. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So I talked to the principal might get a sunny side. >> One thing I thinking of now that we
really haven't talked a whole lot about it, I know Winona um absolutely does. They manage their own transportation. They have their own buses. And so um here we contract that service and so that brings a different dynamic to these
discussions as well where that might have had some potential impact on too. I think just on a very basic level putting a lot of other constraints in place it it just appears that we have a
luxury of space here compared to other communities given the cool moments etc. And I think a lot of it is, you know, historically overlaid
prior to the 80s for sure, 50s, 60s,7s, big enrollments, lots of needs, built a lot of buildings and it was a relatively affluent community and you know the faros red wings were
smaller. They've continued to grow. Um, but I think they didn't have that big surge they openly had. So, they didn't build all these extra elementary schools. Although I know that they close some >> Yeah. Winona had to let go of quite a few.
>> Yeah. And I know here, you know, again, at one time these schools were all >> Yeah. >> including and that's in the past. And so now the question is that's why we're here. trying to drop what do we need for the
next >> consolidated but they're still using that school >> in any other other ways we can get to the survey results we can certainly come back to it so I Some people like to think in process.
Um, okay. So, like I said, um, when we had to kind of press print to do some analysis, we had 127 results. Um, I looked this morning, there were actually no more. So, that's the way surveys go. You could see that there was like a huge title wave of responses received over the course of about three days. I think
after the broader like you all were pretty good about taking it away and then it got shared in the newsletters and the following three days there were quite a few and then it drops up and that's just kind of what happens right you know the email gets filed away or it's not a thing so and like I said I
can go I have the like um website up and so if we want to dive deeper in anything we certainly can um so question one was relation to the school district um so staff member employee was uh 54 so that's 42 and a2% a little under half that's you know the biggest group uh
parent or family 35.4 and then students we had one of them um and then community as we already said was 27 21.2% um do you have school age children yes attend Albert Le schools was half of them 64 out of 127 we had eight people
whose children attend another school district um and then we had 43.4% 4% have saying no. Um, buildings you're associate with. So, this just to remind people, this was like a check all that apply situation, right? So, like somebody, you know,
multiple people had two or three buildings to check because they have multiple children or maybe they're they work at one and have kids in another. So, um, you know, the the order like just because the high school has the most doesn't necessarily mean the most high school people took it, right? Um,
and I think it probably makes sense. Um but you can see here and then we had six people take the survey who are not in any way affiliated with any building right so interesting to think about how they got the survey right um okay so this is the big question and
I'm going to read it off you all print copy in front of you um so rank the topics um regard in regards to your um priorities so just the way that they show this is a little bit strange so that's why we put the raw data on here so Visually
high quality of and education and variety of educational programming, safety and condition of school and class sizes were the three highest ranked topics. Right? So if you go over to the chart here, you can see how many people put that as their number one position
item. Right? So those were the three most commonly put in like either number one or number two slot. Um kind of after that, student support services was the fourth. So, if you were I wish in the survey results it like in the analysis
it like put them in that order. But um and then we have a little bit of a I'll call it a pretty close tie or a pretty close race between maintain current tax level technology infrastructure extracurriculars and location or proximity. They're all like within very
close. And then um the lowest ranked like put in the lowest spot was convenience of transportation. Um, and again you can see in the chart on the right how many people put which topic in like what position, right?
Um, and then obviously the fill in the blank topics. Um, oh, sorry, we have one more. Um, so we have the we had the perception about physical space question, right? This is just to kind of gauge what people believe. So we had 36 people say there's too much space. We
had 73 people say there was just enough space. We had 18 people say there's not enough space and when we were going through the survey results we were curious of who who said not enough space. Um so we like filtered by looking by that. Um and most of the comments
were actually about class sizes like it was like it it's reflected like a space topic but most of the comments later in their other results were all about like too high of class sizes. So I think you know crowding or overcrowding
is a topic and there's like a facilities way to be overcrowded and then there's just like a I feel like we have too many people in this room right so whatever that's worth um and it was mostly at the high school most of the people who answered that way had affiliated themselves with the high school so we
were just curious about that >> um okay so then questions six and seven were the open-ended we gave you a copy of everybody's full response um which I know is a lot to read. Um we've read it but um we did just um work on a summary
of kind of the key themes. So there were I'm just remind myself I think there were 10 topics that came up in this question overall. So just to make it legible I put it on across five slides. So the first one that came up the most was class size and classroom capacity. I
won't read it all to you. Um the second one was uneven distribution of students in space. you know, variation across buildings. Some are overcrowded, some are underutilized. Um, interest or boundary adjustments or grade reconfiguration. Um, Brookside got mentioned as
underused. Um, outdated and inflexible facilities designed for outdated models, need to modernize. Um, insufficient space for sped, e, and student support. Kind of an acknowledgement that those areas are needing additional space.
um high school overcrowding and flow. So this is where that topic of um of kind of feel feeling overcrowded at the high school I would say came out in these suggestions and a lot of people suggested either you know pulling eighth through 9th grade out. Um traffic way
finding and safety um so pickup and drop off better signage better visitor. Um topic number seven was strain on shared extracurricular spaces. So talking about cafeterias feeling crowded or you know having practices late into
the night, high demand for gym space, um cleanliness, maintenance and aging infrastructure. Um just things things getting old. There was a lot of comments about buildings are well maintained but just not updated. Um underutilized or misallocated spaces,
you know, empty rooms or oversized offices or this waste of a locker bay. Um unused spaces that could be converted. um wanting to reorganize to reflect current instructional practices. And then the last theme that we saw, I should say, um um was opportunities for
multi-use and future focused. Um people were talking about community use, wanting to kind of propel our facilities forward um and that maybe modernized buildings could strengthen enrollment. Obviously, that a summary doesn't reflect every single comment, but and I
think we had like 65 comments, so about half of people left a comment. It was an optional question, so not everybody left one. Um, and some were generous. Some kind of wrote a whole paragraph, right? Um, which takes time. And then question seven was the more broad like anything
else. Um, and so the the kind of the summary was like believing the buildings are well-maintained but see a mismatch between space, staffing, student needs, and long-term strategy. Um, and uh, this is one of our computerenerated
assistants read the results for us and it wrote that sense and I was like that's a really poignant inflection of kind of what we're talking about here. Um there was people t a lot of people and some of it was you all because you took the survey talking about grade configuration equity across schools
wanting a long-term facilities vision um want to be efficient. So that was kind of the overall theme of question seven. And then we did break it into other themes. Again people noting that the facilities are are wellmaintained. It's not a not a a factor that people aren't trying to keep them clean but they're
just older. Um old dated or worn. Um some grounds concerns, pride in facilities. Um there's a lot of themes around grade configuration and utilization. Um plenty of people suggesting grade level consolidation at the elementary,
removing eighth grade from the high school. Uh lots of proposals of people who suggest what they think that configuration should be. Um frustration with current um reconfigurations about long-term rationale and balance enrollment, avoid crowding. Um space and
program needs. um you know generally adequate but uneven. I think that's a fair statement. Um talked about the high school maybe needing more specialization and then again those extracurricular topics came up again. I already I've already hit kind of the
cleanliness. Um safety and security um obviously that's a big topic um especially in parents' minds. So that came up as a strong theme. Um and underneath that was a little bit about like behavior support and crisis. So, not just the like external threat topic,
but more like student safety and wellness. Um, equity. Um, uh, there was a little a couple people suggesting that neighborhood schools sometimes reinforces some socioeconomic divides. Um, desiring for more consistent opportunities or experiences
across buildings. Um, that there are PTO resource disparities, right? certain buildings maybe can re can generate or raise more money than others. Um class size um there was a lot of top talk about don't increase class sizes. Um
recognition that students need need space and staffing. Um people concerned that the capacity study um wasn't as unrealistic and needing more um interventions fed and behavior support with patients. I
think there's just a couple more culture and climate. I won't go into these because they're not facilities related, but I didn't want to scrub results for you. Um, long-term planning and communication. People want to be strategic, predictable, long-term, want transparency. Um, asking to be consulted before space
decisions are made, which is what we're doing in this survey. Um, need alignment between facility decisions and instructional priorities. And then last um kind of some opportunities in future was you know some ideas for partnerships um maybe campus proximity consolidating
buildings were appropriate um and some ideas of what what could be better technology bathroom. So before we get into we're going to do some small group work um to talk about like what do we think these results mean. I'm just curious if there's any kind of reactions right off the bat or
questions, reflections. Maybe I'll go back to some of the these ones. >> Is it worth saying that you're recording out responses but not checking the actual actual nature of them?
>> These are actual responses. We didn't scrub out. Yeah, these are these are opinions, right? Correct. Yep. We didn't modify any of the responses. This is like a export, right? So, um, yeah, people >> I even think there was somebody who said you should bring the ALC to Brookside
and it's like, but I can't I can't go change that person's mind, right? >> I think this helps us really wrestle with this idea of we need to educate people now or do we need to gather feedback or makes both and what what are we really trying to get from these as we
go out? There's clearly some responses in here people that don't know and they're assuming and it would be great to have a platform that help them understand their situation better. >> I think it'd be interesting to know the breakdown on this page right here.
>> Yeah. >> Between your three main groups. >> Oh, I think I can pull that out. Let me try to figure that out. Because I just wonder if staff would fall into one group eight and parents would fall into one and the community would fall into a third. Surely and that would be nice to
know because then you could start developing process based on >> I might let me let me try to see if I can pull that apart while we keep talking here. I I should I think I should be able to it it wants to either aggregate or give me individual
responses, but I think I could sort the individual responses by an answer. Um, any other comments or reflections while I work on that? Because I agree that would be an interesting slice here. Do we have any comments online, Jackie?
I keep forget them. Is it possible to have the printed document shared via email? Yes, I'm sure we can get that done. I believe. Oh, yes. Um, it's was that Alic Alicia Alicia? I believe they are
on the website, but we could get them emailed up as well. >> These documents that we have tonight are not on the web yet. >> Oh, okay. >> You want me to share the documents? >> I think yeah, just because they probably would have more meaning.
>> Interesting thing I saw here too is the location proximity of schools, which I refer would think of as the neighborhood schools. Yep. you know, it did have some ones and twos as the first one of two choices, but it had by far the most last choices. >> Yeah. >> But to Rich's point, I'd be curious to see like
>> where does the different groups fall in that >> I think it lets me do it in different charts. See? Turn. What's going on? Okay, I think I get
>> right. Well, we don't want to overgeneralize populations, but for >> um for community Oh, sorry. Oh, >> so for class sizes, >> the average on that was a 2.6, which would put it for community, which would
put it like here. So, community doesn't seem like it had class sizes as as high as maybe parents. And of course, I can't I can't totally generalize because there's a couple people who had it really high. Then what's the next one? Location
proximity of schools ranked low to the broader community. There's like two or three people who had it in a one or a number one or a number two slot, but the predominant predominant answer for that for community was eight or nine. That's what most of them are. Then the third
topic safety and condition of schools. Um the most typical answer there or average was a three and a half. So like between the third slot and the fourth slot. So in the middle of upper end of importance. And then fourth topic high quality and
variety of educational programming. Again this is for community. It's interesting. Probably 80% have a has a one, two or three and then there's a couple minimum like sevens but like most have that very high. Uh maintain
current tax level. that's all over the board. Um, we've got everything ranging from one two three four five six seven eight nine. >> So, I would say maintain current tax was very much a a I'll call it a divided topic for the community. It was not like
one one uh convenience of transportation is all between fives and nines. So, they all had it kind of the back half of importance. uh student support services
>> mostly three fours and fives there's a couple sevens and eights technology and infrastructure the average is a 6.2 two. So, most people had it at like a six or a seven. So, low lower in the community. And then
extracurricular activities and performances, arts and performances. Um, between three and six is the most common. And just while I have it filtered this way, we had
14 community members say we have just enough space and all the rest said we had too much space. So 14 of the 18 said just enough. Four out of 18 said too much.
28 sorry. And I can I can try to break this down a little bit further. Maybe graphically I could break it out by group and have their priority charts. I think I could do that pretty easily. That wouldn't be that hard. A little awkward to just read it to you.
>> Any Okay. So then I think what we're going to do just because it kind of seems time to start talking about it. So um click um we just want to start working on like what are our questions, what are our comments, what are our reflections. Do you have conclusions drawn from this? Right. I know we
started the meeting by saying more input would be better, right? It'd be nice if more people in the community had taken it. Um I I personally found the results kind of kind of interesting. Um so what time is it? 7:02. Um so I think I'll give people like maybe 20 minutes. Um if
you want to work in small groups, um I might have to have you join a group just because you're somebody sitting next to you. maybe the three of you and then you can pick whichever one you want to go to the three of you. I think we've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So maybe we split into a couple
threes and fours there and then I'm sorry online folks, it'll probably have to be a little bit more of an individual exercise for you. But maybe after about 20 minutes, we'll just see where it's going. Um, and I'll kind of circulate for questions. All righty.
Come back together as a group and expertise. >> I think what's going to make the most sense is just to kind of go group by group and just kind of share what your discussion was like, right? I would imagine there's going to be some repeats, but since these aren't like distinct questions like what you have the number one, um I think that's going
to make the most sense. So, um, if I if this group up front doesn't mind, can we just hear about what you all talked about, wondering some questions and reactions? Doesn't have to be a package method, right? It's just, >> um, >> what you spend your time talking about. >> So, we want to be problem solvers here. So, >> Oh, you guys were solving it already.
>> Oh, yeah. Discussing all the different options. you were you were getting right down to like a a configuration thing, >> analyzing how how can we utilize our students more effectively looking at these schools and
how they have the same amount of students, less buildings, how are they doing it, how is this, how can we make it equitable. I think equity was a big part of our discussion with um across grade levels and not just for
student experience but also for staff experience. Um teachers who have 30 kids versus teachers of the same grade level that have 22. How do we even that out and make the statute? >> Um >> and did you all get there just because you're chunking at the bit to solve it
or like the >> we still didn't get there. We Yeah, we didn't solve it. Okay. They went through all the other things like that doesn't work, that doesn't work, that doesn't work. >> And we will have us all together. I appreciate where your heads are at though. >> That means you're starting to feel maybe empowered enough to start setting it.
Did you have any um any reactions to the survey results at all as a group? Like any >> um or questions? We noticed one of the responses talked about having fifth grade that's sibly and making sibly and
southwest kind of a little school compound. I don't know if anybody else saw that but that was an interesting concept. Everybody has an opinion. So it's interesting to see how everybody >> thought of it kind of. >> Yeah. >> Um and then one other thing that I didn't really reflect on until it came
up in the survey results was gym space. And is gym space a huge conflict with scheduling for different sports? So something to take into consideration. Brookside has a lot of gym space. Albertson has a new gym. So
looking at other spaces that aren't classroom 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. >> Awesome. >> Thanks for sharing. You guys want to go next? Would you talk about your main
discussion points >> kind of off the survey data just more like general questions too like you know if if a building does get closed down what is like a general savings of that on a year not not even talking staff just like
taxes heating electricity like what's the cost savings on that? Um and then also kind of like that neighborhood versus milk grade banded schools, you know, what is the difference in cost there? Is it pretty is it the same? Is one more expensive than the other? Um
from a fiscal responsibility piece there. Uh and then the conclusion too that we talked about is really just getting the meat of what needs to be kind of out here too is trying to figure out like okay, I know that what we're facing
here. So then really just trying to again trying to be patient in understanding all the things but also want to >> you're kind of ready to start getting after it. >> I never think that's a bad sign because it usually means to me that you feel like you have enough information to do
so right at the beginning of meeting one I would imagine most people would have said I don't feel informed enough yet to answer this problem. Right? So that's so we've got a second group on on the solution train. Um, any other was anything surprising to you about the
survey or any anything that stood out to you? >> I just wanted to finish your along that same lines. People that I talked to last week wanted to know about a timeline. No matter what we decide to do, how how long would it take to do? If we're
going to do one thing, if we're going to do three things, how who figures this out and how is that communicated? >> Sure. one, as you can probably imagine, different solutions, I think, would have different timelines, right? Um, but
that's a that's a fair topic. We could talk about that in some of your financial questions as a group in generalities. Don't have it tonight, but we could talk about that at a future meeting, I think. >> Yeah, I feel like you have some wonders, right, from your group that we could probably start getting some numbers out
there for you. I don't know if that's where we're at discussion until I'll let you guide us. it like wasn't on the agenda. But like again I usually think if people have moved past like I need more data to even talk about it to starting to try solutions on precise in their head like that usually means we're
starting the next phase which is what are all the ways we could solve this right and that'll be part of what we do at meeting four and um we actually had it as I think a homework item last slide to like we would just ask kind of in the we have a little bit of a longish break between meetings like like really start
thinking about it you know not everybody comes up with their best ideas in these two-hour large group meetings. We'll have about a month between these. And so, um, we're hoping that all this data, these survey responses, we're going to try to get more survey responses, all um, helps adapt become clear. So, we'll
spend more time brainstorming at meeting. >> And I'll do my best to answer the timeline question, too, because I think it's important for all of us to think about. We I think Dr. Isle and myself decided there's urgency to this right away. Um
and even before you started we were talking >> there was urgency for it was in my interview. >> Yeah. So we >> I could see it when I researched to >> so we just know how much more difficult or how difficult it is for any reductions. But if if that's our
response to declining enrollment and less revenue to maintain our budgets and we're getting down to the point where it's getting harder and harder to reduce staffing. That is the largest pool of our funds. our largest expenditures it's people over 80% of our expenditures
um we can't keep doing that in this cycle and so I think our goal just in as we dreamed up working here is to try to have a year of discussions community input working with the community figure
out what we need to do and then that will allow us next year to try to make some adjustments now if we think we're going to close a school this summer probably not realistic, right? But if we
want to change um you know some um other things that are more realistic like maybe a boundary or something, we could have some serious discussions about that this this summer and I don't want to start throwing um ideas out there because we're not at that stage, right?
But I think we're going to have to make some decisions along with reductions this year that are feasible and then also have kind of that next phase. Where are we going next to to really resolve the issues and keep evolving as a school district? So I think as for the group, I
think this year, no, we're not making big huge changes. No, it's not happening. But most likely next the next year, we got to start moving, >> right? Could there be a baby step or two made? Yeah, because baby steps aren't generally that big. Maybe they're
painful on a couple but not the whole system. Do you take a bigger step in a year? Yeah, we're going to have to figure something out, right? And then is it a is it a few tiers of steps? Do you take a step? Do you take two or three baby steps, a large step? You wait a
year or two? Do you look at is there another step? Right? Then do you wait a year or two? Because what you're forgetting is the educational side. As we get literacy going, as we get our math going, as we get the education restarted, do we stop? We're declining
enrollment regardless because we have less less youngers, more olders. Okay. But do less younger leave because the education value goes up. So, right. So, it's so there's probably a tiered system
of a way to do this, but you have to do it controlled. So you have to have that longer range plan of if this then that if not this then that. So >> and I I'm with S. I'm excited that we're getting to that stage where everybody wants to start focusing on answers.
Yeah. >> Right. But I think what I'm coming to the realization of is it's not going to be one answer. >> We're probably going to have multiple stages or multiple options we have to consider at the same time. So it might be a little of this, a
little that or this now this later. We got to get smart about it and that's what we're we're trying to get to the bottom of what options fit best for. Right? So so kind of tiptoe around the answer to give you a general idea timelinewise. I I don't think we're we're solving this whole mess right now,
but probably next year we'll try and take our next big step. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thanks to that group. I might come back here. What did What did this group here talk about? >> Us? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Was it all four of you?
>> Yeah, kind of. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. Well, we I brought the group back to I'll take your time for it. >> Uh brought us back to the to the purpose of the task force which was to analyze key
data and provide recommendations to the district administration regarding the most efficient effective and efficient uses buildings. And in that survey, essentially about 74% of the people thought our facilities were either big enough or need more
space. 30% said they're too big, which is I think it's not insignificant if you're going to just leave it at that number. >> So 75% >> probably not a well educated example
either, right? >> 75% of the people are saying, "Yeah, why would you make it smaller? Why would you reduce it? It's just right. Oh, it could even be bigger. It's fantastic. Right. So, if you're going to recommend
that you reduce the amount of square footage or buildings or whatever facilities that you're going to have in your district, you better be very careful because the rest of the questions in the survey, which were very significant, all indicate things that aren't brick and mortar.
They're not structure. are not parking lots. It was safety. It was class size. It was access. It was those things. And certainly if you're going to close a building, you better reassure everybody
that 75% that we'll continue to provide those things and do it at >> because doesn't mean you're not going to do it anymore. >> Yeah. Yeah. Or you might have to go the other route which is we're going to do this because we feel it'll be better,
>> right? Yeah. The message might have to be we have to do this to maintain high quality programming, right? Or that's the only way we can get to the next level of high quality program. >> And so then the outcome that you wanted from us is you wanted some community informed,
not community generated, community informed, which is significant. We're educating the community. We're not necessarily going out and asking them to tell us. >> They don't have the right data. Most people don't have the right data. >> They're not here in the room.
>> And we're going to guide facility planning for the next decade so that the building support teaching them. I don't know if we're there yet. I think we're somewhere back on the first part and haven't quite got to the second part yet. But I still worry that
we're trying to do too much. Got rain this in because you we're trying to do more than I think what you're expecting yet. I think the hard part is the um budgetary challenge the district is in is a multiaceted thing of which
facilities are >> no question >> related and a lot of the operational people costs are somewhat related to your facilities configuration right so it is hard to draw too clean a line between kind of operating non-f facility stuff but but I appreciate your point
that we we won't get there if we work on everything >> yeah I If I don't have a Kim school, I'm probably not going to get too worried about um changing facilities or anything like that, I'm I'm really not going to get too concerned at all. You tell me
what my taxes is going to Now I'm going to get now you'll get my attention. And I know that's a cynical way to approach it, but I my experience in Montana was exactly that. >> Sure. >> It was very difficult when we were trying to get a new high school built there. It was very difficult to get people's attention until you started
talking money. Then it was a lot easier. Sure. >> Okay, great. And then I think we had a two and a two, right? Or the two of you. What did you spend your time talking about? >> Well, I learned that this guy, who I thought was retired, is actually pretty
dang busy. He took his wife to the doctor this morning because the roads were bad. And then he proceeded to feed 40 cattle when he got back home, getting a couple more things in the afternoon. And then he goes to wrestling practice
and probably wrestles. >> And then had the education association meeting next door and then comes to the facilities meeting. >> That's a busy Wednesday. >> Pretty nice day, wasn't it? Yeah. I thought I >> I have the luxury of being here not to express to express an opinion but to
absorb. >> Yeah. >> I think the thing we talked about mainly was Yeah. How do how do you solve the overall issue? And we can kind of talk back and forth between school district, city, and kind of look at similarities there. Same thing the school has going
and the city has going. 70% of our costs are labor and benefits. Yes. >> And there's not a lot you can do about that unless you don't want to provide certain services. >> And so everybody wants the city to cut just like they want the school district to not rise much in in taxes and that.
But what services do you not want to give to the community going forward? And uh people want their snow moved. People want their kids educated. >> Yeah. >> And uh so they don't want to cut anything if they can help it. We think the survey could maybe be a little bit more robust with some of the questioning
and uh um we got a lot of education to do with the public, but I think as you alluded to there, that's mainly going to be education. We're not necessarily going to gather all the answers. >> Yeah. People aren't going to solve it for us properly. Right. >> Exactly. Exactly. So, this group is
going to have to do that and and be the eyes and ears of the whole thing here, but I mean it comes down to facilities or people and you can take a facility facility out of it over the next couple years, whatever that may be. That's going to give you a little break in your expenses for a couple years, but the
rest of the budget will catch up and and eat that up over time. So, it's a bigger picture that that we've got to work on. There's a lot of things, a lot of moving parts here I think that that we've got to take care of. Otherwise, it's just going to be a temporary thing. You save 300,000 by closing a building or
something. Well, in a matter of three, four years, the budget will back up. So, those are some of the >> Did you have anything else? >> Oh, you did a very excellent job of summing things up. I I like Superintendent Hile's analysis of this
where you know we are concerned obviously with balancing uh the money that we take in against that that we spend. We cannot we must not we will not exceed in our spending. We will not spend more than we take in and and the
money that we that our income is a function of a couple of things especially the number of students that we have at Dr. house uh is of the opinion that we we can control that hopefully by improving the the quality
of the product that we present to the public. Once the public hears about that, the demand for our services will go up and our income. That's that's a that's kind of a cheery outlook, but uh
pays to be optimistic. >> Thank you. What did the two of you talk about? >> Um, I really liked answer 58 in question one. >> Answer 58 to question one. >> Um, well, there's a lot of the schools are messy, the schools are super clean,
the schools are old, the schools are very well kept, and so that's the majority. >> Oh, question six. Sorry. >> Yeah, the first. Yeah, I understood exactly what you >> um talking about the wasted space at the high school, the lockers. Oh, >> and I have two kids at the high school and neither one of them use a locker.
And so I was like, that's something I didn't think of. And so there are some creative ideas out in the community. So I think it's I know it's very important that we throw this out wider. We have to get more than 127. We just have to
>> um because that's not going to go well when it comes back. And how many people did you ask? >> 147. >> Yeah. Uh so we do need to ask more. who knows what they'll say, but we have to get more feedback um because there's probably some more gems out there, some
more creative ideas. And then the other, and a few people touched on this, but it's answered to question seven. Um just talking about if we were to um consolidate the schools and then break them apart by grades. So like maybe kindergarten and first or at one
building second the socioeconomic impact because there is kind of a oh these kids go to this school these kids go to this school and and the reality is there's excellent teachers at all the schools but if there's a feeling that maybe your
child is going to a bad school or this eliminates that because all the kids are going to this and so it really does create an even playing field and not to mention the fact that it'll really be able to dial in class sizes because if you've got 230 kids in this grade, how
many teachers do we have? And you divide it and it's easy and it's even and that way we don't have 19 kids in one second grade class and 30 in another. Um so then you have the people that also said there's too much space, there's not enough, there's too many, they all look the same, right? And so you're really
giving um it evens out the the quality of education that the kids are getting as well. >> Sure. that answer and that rationale kind of resonated with you. >> Yes, I got point. So, >> um >> Yep. And then just to really make sure
that we think long term because there seems to be a there's lots of changes that are making and we're we're changing rules and doing things and this is expensive and so if we're going to take a building and change it, make sure we stick with what we're doing. So I think
a lot of it is just communicating to the public and explaining the steps and how it's we have a plan. Yep. >> Great. Thank you. Um what about our do we have anyone I know back row is kind of some resources more than did anyone in the back want to
share anything before I go online? >> Um I'll just talk a little bit. I guess I my concern um so I understand what you're saying down at the end um regarding like the schools I definitely see that like um certain other schools I think as educators we both see that and
that we do have great teachers um at every building. The other thing is the guaranteed and viable curriculum if we did do banded like a K12 three buildings um eminent instructional coaches building and I think that would be very beneficial because then we would know
that you know all of our K1 teachers they have the same curriculum they're on the same pacing they have a lot of the same assessments that are being used uh when we do report cards anything like that we just know that that's it's you know across the grade level which is should be great um one of my fears is
that um if we're putting all these students in one building, let's say we have um Hawthorne as a 45 building and we're trying to be effective and efficient and we're putting 30 students in a class to get all of these kids in
these buildings. Um that is going to be a huge stress on our teachers and help speak to it, but we don't teach how we used to teach 20 years ago. So the way the buildings or those rooms are made >> um it's not how we teach anymore. That
was whole group. >> There were some survey results that imply, you know, talked about modernization, >> whole group teaching and that's not how our kids function and that's not how we teach anymore. Um just knowing best practices. And so that's my my fear is that I've had 31 in a fourth grade
classroom and I can't meet the needs of all those students. um especially when I have a you know an EL that's only been in the United States for a year and someone who's you know at a sixth grade level right so that's a struggle and I don't want that to happen either to our teachers
>> especially when you're not guaranteed to always parents are are in view and very appreciated but it's hard to find them so without extra support and everything that can be really tough >> I think what the community thinks of a class size and the the reality of teaching in a class size are very different
>> Sure you know and like an important issue, right? >> Yeah. Like if you're perfect world, okay, everybody's got 20 kids. Wow, beautiful. But that isn't the reality on the school side of it. >> Yeah. >> And so I think for like being a teacher, I agree with Amber, like if we're going
to be cutting teachers and doing all that, if you put them all in these buildings, you could have huge class sizes and need less teachers and then need less of other things. And so that would be my fear as well. >> Sure, I understand that. As teachers, we don't like if we have 18 and then the
Hawthorne, we know that they have 27. Well, we hear that pain for them too that they're, you know, they're struggling with these big class sizes and that's so I can see the benefits of putting students in the same grade levels in the buildings. Um, I do see the benefit of that too.
>> I appreciate that. >> I'm sure that'll be a a question on everybody's mind of like what would the outcome actually look like, right? So we say, well, we want to balance things and make them more equitable and all these positives, right? Yeah, I appreciate that. >> With our with our budget being mostly
the staffing, have there been any thoughts of like a retirement bio piece for some of those teachers that the district a long time? >> I don't know that we've gotten that far yet. I'm looking over at Paul and Dr. >> But the idea it's got to you got to find
a sweet spot to make it work and make financial sense. And we've done it as a district, I believe, in the past. So, it's something that's TR doesn't work as well now as it did back in the day. So, like if you take that buyout and leave
and you take your TR, you're going to have less overall in the long run. So, it's not it's not like the business world at all anymore. So the way the systems work doesn't necessarily make it as confusing as people think
benefits are a real concern for people to try and bridge the gap to retirement. So there's a lot of discussion that can I ask the teachers in the room about the concept of how spaces are used a little bit more. um were concerned with
used Hawthorne as an example and as to how we teach today. Is that a current reality with those larger groups that are in a one of the unlucky schools, let's call it, right? Where they have more students already? Is it something we're facing with those, you know, we
talk about discrepancy between 27 and 18 in one building and the other. Is that group with 27 facing that reality right now already? And is that something that maybe would be counter if we were distributed? I'm just trying to get a feel for that concept because I hear it.
Right. >> I I think we've been facing it all the time. When I first came to Sibly, I had 32 and 33 in my room and other I think Halverson had a total of 36 between the two and I had three less than their
whole grade. And no one really cared. I don't mean that in a negative way, but it's just kind of like, well, this is how it is for you this year. And so, I mean, this is probably I think this is just how it's been because we have all these buildings and I've been at Hawthorne where they've had three
sections a lot and I I wouldn't have more than 24. So, I think it just depends on the staffing, the money, and and I do think that the needs of the kids do matter because you can have a class of 30 and if if everyone has
similar needs and you have the supports you have, it it's okay. It's manageable and you have the space, but on the other hand, you can have a class a lower class size, but maybe they have a lot of high needs and there's a lot of different sped levels and e levels. And so I mean
you can't really just blanket statement saying whatever >> x number is perfect. >> Yeah. Because there's so many variables. There's so many variables. >> That will probably be true regardless of >> and you know the solutions we come up with right is the crop of kids every year is different.
>> Yeah. I mean I've been in over 15 years and and being a classroom teacher. I've had just a variety of numbers and every class is so unique and different and you know we face a lot of different challenges with new admin or new
teachers and it's there's so many there's so many into that. So I don't think it's just like a this year problem. It's been a problem for a long time. >> And I think too like when I talk about spaces like they used to have a big desk and all their supplies stayed in their desk and that's not the case anymore.
They're tiny desks. So, we have the Chromebook carts. We have I mean almost all the teachers have shelves with book boxes and they have a reading box and a math box. >> Um all the man manipulatives, all the science materials take up space. Like there's teachers that have just big old
shelves in their classrooms right now full of you know >> for context for the last year elementary schools we we purchased all new furniture across the district using the last of our er funds the last funds to
new furniture for all of our schools um elementary schools and the philosophy there was more flexible learning space no more rows right big desks that you open up and all your in and more space that you can be flexible as a class
teacher and move and it's got it pros and cons, right? But I think it was an effort to evolve with educational practices and I think that's an important piece too that um that the classrooms looked good. We're using an old space with new stuff in it, right?
And so that is I think something that we need to be cognizant of as we're thinking about space. >> And like when we used to teach you know 15 20 years ago like we would have them like you said all in rows and it was one teacher at the front doing whole group
teaching and that's just not how it is now either. Like the students are in small groups. They're moving. They're transitioning and we're sitting for 25 minutes then we're quickly moving to the next the next group. We're working in small groups and those desks that we purchased are work well for that too. >> Well, I think there was a big push to
get all the kids online using devices for a long time and we didn't need all the physical stuff because the push was do everything on the devices and now a lot of research has come out and trying to balance device usage. Well, if you're not using the devices, you need the
stuff and you need to put the stuff somewhere. And so if you have all these kids in your room and then you got all their stuff be different if you have 30 kids, they have a Chromebook, you don't need anything else. But like you h they they require things especially if we're
going away from device usage as we see research coming out for some of that. >> You know, we're going to require some room for that >> complicated answer to your to your question. No, I I wanted the conversation.
>> Um I don't want to keep people too late tonight. Um do um I uh do any of our joiners from online have any survey musings they want to share? I didn't see anything in the chat. Um can you hear me? This is Kristen Seager.
>> Yes, we can. Um I just think related to community members um I think because education has changed so much in the past 15 20 years and especially since co whatever decision we do end up making I think we need to really educate the
public as to why so they understand um what we're doing and why we're doing it. I just think a lot of our community members haven't probably stepped foot even in a school building, let alone been present when students are there for so long, that to no fault of their own,
they're just kind of out of touch with how things are. So, we need to be cognizant of that considering they're the people who are funding our schools and paying helping to pay our salaries. >> Sure. That's great advice.
>> All right. Well, I think I'm gonna try to land the plane. So, if we got a couple minutes left, um, could you mind going back for just No, I think I only have one more slide left. >> Okay. Um, so, um, I was talking with Paul and Dr. H
while you all were talking. I do think it'd be good to get our I think we talked ourselves into having inerson listening sessions. It's still a good idea. Still have to work on the agenda. Um, and we have a meeting on Wednesday, January 7th, and then we have another meeting on Wednesday, January 21st. And
so I was kind of looking at, you know, kind of between those might be a nice time, right? Um, so I think if we wait too long, you all are going to want to start solving it, right? I can feel it already. You're doing it. Um, so, um, I think we want to leave today with
some ideas of when those meetings could be. Again, we wanted to have a daytime and an evening opportunity. Um, I don't know exactly what daytime means. I don't know if that's over the lunch hour or first thing in the morning, but I think an evening opportunity would be a time like this, right? At six o'clock or whatever, somebody who has work during
the day. Um, and there's a couple complications in there. The Monday of that same week as Martin Luther King Day, Monday the 19th, so probably can't do it that day. Um and then um the schoolboard conference is the back half
of this week right here for 14 15 16. So just Tyler and I couldn't be here but others could. Um and then like I said we have a meeting on the 7th. So as we looked on calendars we kind of saw like Tuesday the 8th or Thursday the 8th Tuesday the 13th or um maybe you could
even do the daytime one earlier in the day on the meeting of the 21st. But we just want to have a discussion about kind of like not that everybody has to make it to everything, but I think we would want task force representation at, right? We wouldn't want it to be that you're not present. You're
you're going to be the ones making a recommendation, not ourselves and the administration, right? So, um, just thought I'd get a couple days out there and maybe I'll try to have people just like raise hands for like preferences and then we'll have to coordinate with like the rest of the district calendar. I don't know if there's other events
going on on these any of these nights, but we can work on it. So, um, and I don't know if people prefer I I also tried to spread it out a little bit like a Tuesday, Wednesday, and a Thursday just in case I'm busy every Thursday. Um, so maybe by showing hands, is there
a group, a contingent at least that could do Thursday, January 8th? >> Um, I'm available for either, but I can split it out that way. Day or evening. Um, so what if we did a daytime one that Wednesday January 8th? Is there anyone
who could make that one? >> Got like four, five, six. Okay, >> of course I could. >> If you need >> I suppose technically you could do the day and evening on the same day, but that might somebody might be out of town, so that might not be legit. What
about evening that day? Is anyone available for that evening? the same maybe got a few it know life is busy you're not going to get it same meeting um what about Tuesday January 13th same question I do day and evening
people during the day on Tuesday the 13th got a couple for that one okay or the evening that day that's the most chance we've had so far like seven to eight um and then I think
we could only do daytime the 21st during the day, but you know, we could do the daytime listening session the same day as they're meeting. Just do it before. And does that work for anybody? >> Just a couple. Okay. Um, and like I said, there's a couple days, a couple other days. There's a
Wednesday and a Thursday, the 14th through 15th. I personally will be at the school board conference. I don't know how many other I kind of figured. So, I didn't I didn't count it, but >> um Okay. Okay. So, I think we can we can work with that and we'll try to figure out and then we'll send invites out um
and that really the um desire we have of this group is um once the district starts um communicating those out um please try to you know get the people that you know and you care about to come to them, right? That's going to be what makes them successful and we can talk more about the indepth agenda of what
we're going to do with that at our next meeting, right? We'll we'll spend some time on that on the seventh. Um, okay. So then I think the only other homework, like I said, is kind of what's bubbling into your mind about about solutions. You know, we're we're not
quite ready to solve it because we still have some more input we want to gather, but um many of you were starting to run numbers and how much would that save and how would that fit and how would that look? Um, and we're going to allow you some time to brainstorm. Um, just get ideas out on paper. don't have to be
fully fleshed and then we can work on them between meetings both in terms of like perceived financial savings, how they might fit in the buildings, what have you. Um, and then we'll keep going back and forth on that. So, um, and I think I we guessed that you might want some additional survey
results. You know, we all wish that we had 2,000 or whatever, right? Um, so I think we'll work with the district to continue publishing publicizing that survey to try to get more people to take it and then we can look next meeting of like are the trends staying the same? Did we get a did we reach a whole
population and a whole new perspective has come in? Right. So hopefully we can boost that number. Does anybody have any other closing thoughts before we let you go? Would it be like some dumb idea to do the listening sessions in the elementary buildings like for the parents
>> to like have a you're saying to like host it on their turf a little bit? >> Yeah, just like have them have welcome them into the buildings and try to get our parents that are currently in the buildings there. >> I don't mind that idea. I don't know what >> are you doing more than just and like
where where would those be like the community listening? >> Everybody would come to these same meetings. We would just target their attendance. >> But where would that be? >> Oh, like what building? I don't know that we've discussed. I don't Has the district typically held meetings like that here? >> I think the boardroom might make a lot
of sense for that. >> Depends if you want a lot. >> Yeah. Auditorium. >> Yeah. The only hard part about auditoriums aren't amazing for feedback. They're good for presenting to um as we think about the format, right? Is it
like are we mostly educating or mostly trying to hear from? So, we'll just have to we can think through that. But I understand your point about trying to capture people where they are. and you know like if you come into your
own own building versus going to address >> uh one thing I was thinking about was um and I just talked with Gaston earlier this evening and just reaching our parent groups to get the survey out um like our PO is our parent advisory group
high school that might be another way to access the specific building, get that feedback. >> Yeah. And we would have the ability to like filter results by building and stuff like that, right? Or at least people who affiliated themselves with the building.
>> Is the survey on the task force website? I don't see >> um that isn't good. I didn't go on that website very much. >> I'm gonna unpack the conversation tomorrow and we're gonna review the survey how it's getting pushed out where
it's at. Make sure we get it. So, if it's not >> I was say it we could obviously make it more broadly known, right? No, we just got to get people excited to take it. Yeah. >> Super random. But question three, if there's any way to reward it, that would
be awesome because it starts out with which building are you associated with? and it's like we're just familiar with in general. And so you don't know if the kid like if your person's kid is in that school or if that person has just walked in the building before. And if you want to figure out where these people are
coming from, it doesn't really tell you. >> Yeah. I think the hard part was we were um well I could Yes, we could reword it like just to answer your question. There's um >> it's like there's people who are a part of your buildings because they like do
youth programming or like community ed classes at Brookside, right? So, you know what? It's not quite as simple as just like do you work here? Do your kids go here? But I think associated with probably captures all of that. So, I wonder if we could just delete the like or familiar with, right? Associated
with, you know, >> if I've walked in a building and I kind of know where the gym is with it. Sure. >> You know, but that's different than I have some. >> I appreciate that. We can I think that would be an easy change and I don't think >> it would only clarify.
>> Thank you. Well, thanks everyone. Sorry I tried to land on time. Good evening. Have a good holiday season. I won't see you all. I know those are